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CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

TZAIN

“T HERE’S STILL A CHANCE.” Amari attempts to comfort me as we fly across the seas. New vines cross over our torsos and waists, keeping us strapped to the vessel’s side.

The Green Maidens push beyond their natural limits, using their vines to latch onto rock formations and island chains leagues away. Every time they find a new anchor, our videira launches into the sky. We catapult over the ocean waves, hurtling to New Gaīa in record time.

As we soar, I clutch Zélie’s body to my chest, unable to loosen my grip. Numbness fights the well of sorrow that threatens to spring forth.

We were supposed to go back home.

My sister was supposed to live.

Please. I close my eyes. I dare to hold on to the shred of hope that lies inside. The New Gaīans were able to save her once before, but that was back when Yéva reigned. Even Mae’e was strong enough to intervene.

Now the sacred hierophant lies unconscious, strapped to the bottom of our vessel in a blanket of woven vines. Her brown skin has turned pale. There’s no life in her sparkling gaze.

Zélie may have stopped the ritual, but Baldyr sucked the very life from Mae’e’s veins.

The thought of the mutilated king haunts me—the mess of bloodmetal and human flesh. I see the twisted golden skull melted to his form, no longer just a mask. Zélie stopped him from becoming a god. But what power does Baldyr still have?

HA-WOOOOOOOOOOO!

I whip around as a long horn blows. Dozens of black silhouettes appear on the horizon, glowing under the Blood Moon.

Crafted from bloodmetal, each carrier is massive.

They spread five times the width of any ship I’ve ever seen.

The carriers don’t have masts or sails, yet they move with unmatched speed.

Hundreds of Skulls stand at attention on each carrier’s flat base. For the first time, I witness their army’s collective strength. The hulking men wait in long lines, ready with their axes, their hammers, and their poleaxes.

“What are those?” Amari whispers.

Beside me, Inan reaches for his stolen maps. He looks over the schematics of the Skulls’ ships, searching for a match. His hands go limp as realization dawns. He releases the parchments, allowing them to blow in the wind.

“The reason they destroyed their old fleet,” he answers.

We watch, silenced by our defeat. Giant runes burn red beneath the vessels’ hulls, generating a force that allows them to blast through the seas.

Powered by the Blood Moon, the giant crafts traverse entire leagues in minutes.

The very ocean quakes beneath them. But one special craft waits in the middle.

Dark clouds crackle overhead.

Baldyr…

A mass of storm clouds engulfs the king’s carrier, hiding him from view. A whirlpool swirls around the giant craft. The seas around him crackle, open fissures spewing molten rock.

A horn rings, and Baldyr’s carrier stops. The two lines on either side of him diverge. Half the crafts sail due west for Or?sha. The other half sail south for New Gaīa.

Promise me you’ll fight. Zélie’s words return. Promise me you’ll do everything you can. If the worst comes to pass, the Skulls won’t stop at New Gaīa. They’ll sail for Or?sha, too.

Tears sting my eyes as I look down at my sister’s corpse. I hated her for speaking the words. But watching the carriers fly, I think of everyone left back home—Kenyon, Khani, Nao; the maji and the kosidán.

The way their crafts move, the Skulls will cross the ocean in mere hours. Their battle for Or?sha will rage before sunrise.

I couldn’t save you.… I lay a hand on Zélie’s mangled cheek. I couldn’t stop their king.

Something bleeds from deep in my heart. Without my sister, I don’t know if it will ever stop.

But I’ll keep my promise to you, Zélie.

I hold my sister close for the last time. Vines wrap around her body as I lay her on the videira’s floor.

I turn to the Green Maidens and vineweavers, studying how their vines anchor, release, and launch. I point to the carriers heading for Or?sha.

“What will it take to attach to that craft?”